Following directly upon the events of the previous installment (Fool's Assassin) and ending in a double-whammy of a cliffhanger. I won't reveal and ruin it for others; but a number of times I laughed out loud, cried a bit, reread passages just to enjoy it again. He’s a grown man but he will not shut up, and when he does shut up, we then have to read all about his emotions, so it just never ends. Also, while I don’t trust Kerf one bit, I can’t help but hope that he’s looking out for Shun and Bee. If the final book sticks the landing, which I fully expect it will, this series will likely go down as the best series within this world.

I loved the fact that this book gave us so many moments alone with Fitz because he is definitely the driving force of this whole series. So she is not known as the son of a traitor, Kettricken has Starling finally sing the song she had made of Fitz, the journey into the mountains, and the stone dragons. Also, Lant, Perseverance, and Riddle wanting to accompany Fitz and Fitz being super annoyed about it is so wholesome 🥰 And now he drugged them!Robin Hobb weaves a tale so heart-breaking and intricate that you cannot help but turn the page to see what happens. Anyway, Fool’s Quest opens with FitzChivalry Farseer back at Buckkeep Castle, helping to heal the Fool, having unintentionally stabbed his old friend at the end of the previous book, Fool’s Assassin. This author has the ability to slam home the force of the previous events in fresh ways, making us feel and remember all the special things that made the earlier books so great. After all, you wouldn't want anyone profiting off hours of your work without naming you as the creator either, would you?

Hobb leverages this by doubling down on the inner turmoil experienced by Fitz and others, and I felt the anguish these characters were going through during all of these moments down to my core. It's just very hard watch humans try to understand Fitz when it was his wolf that always knew him best. I mean, sure, I get that he’s been tortured, I get that he’s terrified that Clerres will thwart the future he thinks is the right one, and that he’s furious about the Servants taking Bee. I've read the previous 6 Fitz and Fool volumes and loved them so much--the pace suited me even if you consider that 6 books do not two lives completely detail!Also, while I’m still skeptical about the extent of the Fool’s vengeful nature, I love how he just casually touches Fitz all the time now and Fitz doesn’t think it’s weird. I mean, sure, I can believe Jek is a spy for Chade and I guess that was who she was writing to earlier, but Fitz has met Jek! If I hadn’t been off exploring ruins and beaches and mountains, or confusing locals with my garbled attempts at speaking their language, I probably would have blazed through this much quicker! If it’s anything like previous third books in these trilogies, it will be devastating and magnificent.